The all-star cast has been unveiled for Mark Gatiss's latest Ghost Story for Christmas, with this year's instalment being led by Martin Freeman (Sherlock) and Jim Broadbent (Harry Potter).
The duo will star in Gatiss's adaptation of The Bride's Chamber, a dark tale from Charles Dickens which was first published in 1858.
It tells the tale of a spurned and vengeful suitor who manipulates a young woman and marries her to claim her fortune. But his plans create an unforeseen horror...
The BBC's official synopsis adds: "An inn with no name, an eccentric landlord and a lone traveller with a strangely familiar appearance. As he settles into his room for the night, the traveller is visited by an uncanny man in black, with a story to tell..."
News of the casting was announced alongside the release of a first-look image of Freeman (above).
The wider cast for the Ghost Story, Gatiss's ninth, will include Adrian Scarborough (Gavin & Stacey), Joe Armstrong (Happy Valley), India Fowler (The Agency) and Lewis Shepherd (Dear England).
The special was filmed on location at Ingatestone Hall in Essex earlier this year, and will air on BBC Two and iPlayer over the festive period.
Gatiss said in a statement: "It’s unusual to find a Dickens rarity, but this is it. A weird and nasty little treasure which lurks within a work co-written with the great Wilkie Collins. A lonely inn, an incognito traveller and a ghastly tale of warped obsession. Merry Christmas!"
The special marks a reunion for Gatiss and Freeman, with the former have created and co-starred in Sherlock, in which Freeman played John Watson.
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Another Dickens adaptation, a four-part version of A Tale of Two Cities, is set to air on the BBC in the coming months, starring Kit Harington.
Last year's A Ghost Story for Christmas was The Room in the Tower, an adaptation of EF Benson's story, starring Tobias Menzies and Dame Joanna Lumley.
Speaking ahead of that special's release, Gatiss said he had a number of different terrifying tales in mind to adapt – although none of these were the Dickens tale we are ultimately getting.
"I always wanted to do [MR James short story] Casting the Runes, but it's an epic – it's an hour, or 90 minutes," he said. "Negotium Perambulans – that's a great one, [EF] Benson again. Green Tea [by Irish author J Sheridan Le Fanu], I often come back to... there's loads."
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Bride's Chamber will air on BBC Two and iPlayer this Christmas.
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